My Doppelganger Almost Killed Me
by AndromedaMarine
Summary: The doppelganger shrugged. “This is hell. Yours, at least. Pathetic,” he added. “You killed her,” he hissed pushing the colonel’s worst buttons. “She loved you and you killed her. You should die for that!” Minor spoilers for Doppelganger, season 4


**My Doppelgänger Almost Killed Me by AndromedaMarine**

"_It's your fault I'm dead," Elizabeth leered at him. "You were too cowardly. If not for you I'd be alive. Murderer." She lifted a hand and slapped him hard across the cheek. Her eyes were dark and empty, showing him her purged soul. _

_He staggered away from her, turning his head in shame. He lifted a hand and lightly touched the stinging red blotch. "I – I'm sorry," he whispered, taking one look at her before she faded away. _

_Keller appeared. "I'm here because you let Carson die. How could you? How _could_ you? He was a _good_ man, and you let him burn. You should go to hell for eternity for what you've done to Atlantis. You've torn her apart." She spit at him, and gave him a glare so intense he would be dead six times over if looks alone could kill. She disappeared before he could say anything._

_Zelenka peered at him through fogged glasses. "Only you are to blame for what happened. I cannot and will not accuse any other person of what you so brutally did to me." He faded away, the dismayed look in his eyes lingering for the last moment._

_Rodney walked up to him, a sad expression on his features. "Four years, John, and everything is your fault. And now you're going to kill me, too? Just going to let me die? I thought you were my friend, John. I _trusted_ you. First Peter, then Andrews. They trusted you too, John. You are a murderer. I thought you loved Carson as a brother, but he died because of you too. Elizabeth was the last straw. I thought you _loved _her. You _loved_ her! Was she so _worthless_?"_

_John didn't want to look at Rodney and expected him to fade like the others._

"_Look at me, you pathetic coward." Rodney's words and tone were sharp, slicing him like a double edged blade._

_John looked at him with teary eyes. "What?" he asked pitifully. "What more do you have to blame on me?"_

_Rodney's eyes flashed maniacally. "David. Nancy. _Heightmeyer_."_

_The colonel's eyes were red-rimmed. "Any more?" he choked out._

"_Radek."_

_That pushed the Air Force officer over the metaphorical edge. His face hardened and just as he tackled the scientist Rodney morphed into a duplicate of John, the one who had been haunting the dreams of all his colleagues and friends. _

"_Temper, temper," the doppelganger tsked. "Wouldn't want you to ruin that pretty, innocent face."_

"_Go to hell," John spat. _

_The doppelganger shrugged. "This _is_ hell. Yours, at least. Pathetic," he added. "You killed her," he hissed pushing the colonel's worst buttons. "She loved you and you killed her. You should die for that!"_

"_How would you know? Evil twin or not you can't know if she loves me. For all you know she despises me," he said, backing away. "You're incapable of love, my oh-so-evil counterpart."_

_The doppelganger shoved John with ten times the force the original possessed. "Remember how she rested her hand on your arm after missions and briefings? Remember how that _felt_?" He kicked the colonel with bone-cracking force. "Made you go all soft and fuzzy inside, didn't it? And for what?" he hissed. "You let her and your chance _die_. You killed her, and she loved you."_

"_Wrong," John coughed with effort. "I saved her – she never died."_

_The doppelganger laughed humourlessly. "No, you didn't. Obie got inside her head and it might as well have been_ you_ who delivered the fatal blow. You – are – worthless!" he huffed in between hard punches. "Didn't even try to save Andrews, or Radek. What makes Rodney and Elizabeth so special?"_

"_I couldn't save Andrews, or Radek. It was impossible." John winced and cried out again as his counterpart landed a heavy blow on his chest._

"_Why defend yourself when you know you're wrong about everything? I am the true you!"_

"_Is this where you ask me to join you and rule the universe?" John wheezed. "As alike as we are you should know I hate clichés."_

"_Fool!" The doppelganger's face showed rage._

"_I love her," John interrupted, hunching on all fours. "She's alive and I love her."_

_The doppelganger wound up another kick and was about to let it out when he contorted in agony, blue sparks jumping over his body and into the air of the dim gateroom. The shimmers from the event horizon sparkled and reflected, magnifying the color of the sparks. The electricity shot off his body and into the surrounding metal and he fell to his knees, his features showing the beginning of defeat._

_Rodney limped into view. "Vulnerable to electric shock. Not so tough now, huh?" he proclaimed proudly._

_John summoned his remaining strength and tackled the doppelganger, launching him into the open wormhole. John collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily. "Thanks," he whispered._

"_Don't mention it," Rodney said, wandering over to where John lay. "I thought there'd be more hot chicks."_

"_Yeah, me too," John agreed, favoring his left leg as he stood. "Now, how do we get out of here?"_

--

Jennifer Keller peered over John as he blinked back into existence. He turned his head heavily and weakly waved at Rodney, who gave him a small smile. John sighed and glanced up to the glass where Elizabeth and Colonel Lorne stood, giving him great big smiles.

"Is it over?" he asked softly.

Jennifer nodded. "You did it."

John shook his head. "Rodney did it." He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. "Rodney got him. He almost killed me – I owe my life to McKay." John tried to get up but he cried out when his chest and other limbs protested. Although his face didn't, his eyes smiled up at Elizabeth, who beamed and left the railing. A minute later she was in the isolation room and by John's side, clutching his hand inconspicuously.

--

A week later John had decided that the blip that told him people were outside his door was too annoying. Evan brought him coffee and Rodney made sure the colonel got food because John had secluded himself after being released from the infirmary a day after his doppelganger almost killed him. He angrily threw a book at the wall when the blip became insistent. His anger was at its rope's end but when he opened the door he couldn't be mad.

John's face softened. "Elizabeth." He acknowledged and turned away from her and flopped onto the bed as she stood in an awkward silence.

"John," she started, wringing her hands in an un-Elizabeth-ish way. "John, everyone's so worried about you... We're not seeing you at all, and the only people you talk to is Rodney and Evan – where's the communication? We need to know what's going on with you. I do." She sat on a chair in front of him. "John, please look at me," she pleaded, her eyes showing the sadness her face mirrored. "John, please."

He slowly turned his head and he sort of glared at her.

As much as she wanted to she didn't look away, forcing herself to stare deep into his hazel eyes. If she didn't hold his gaze she would never forgive herself, and she knew it. "I thought I was going to lose you. And when she had to use the defibrillator, I realized I had...unresolved...issues to deal with."

"I don't know what that means," John said lowly, still giving her a hard look.

She sighed, forming her words. "I realized that I didn't want you to die without knowing the truth. And that I wanted yours."

John frowned. "My what? What truth?"

"Your...feelings," she said awkwardly.

The colonel sat up and frightened the woman, who jumped back into the chair as John's form quickly approached hers. "You had the dream. My doppelganger almost killed me – how do you think I feel? It blamed me for everyone's deaths – even yours, and I knew that wouldn't work because I saved you from Asuras. He blamed me for Carson, Pete, and Radek. Heightmeyer. Andrews."

She put her hand on the bed, and John eyed it. "But they weren't your fault. And don't for one minute think otherwise. You're a good man, John. Nothing and no one should be able to make you think different. And you're right – I'm not gone. I'm right here, trying to help. Just let me." She slid her hand over to his arm and just barely touched his skin.

He took it in a snatch, pulling her over so his nose was about a millimeter from hers. His eyes darted between hers, searching for the emptiness that doppelganger-Elizabeth had had. "No lie?" he asked softly, still staring into her green eyes.

She shook her head slowly. "No lie."

"What truth?" he asked again. For a moment she simply looked at him and then his body exploded with the fire of passion as Elizabeth's lips gently touched his. The kiss gradually became more insistent and desperate, as if Elizabeth were the life he'd been looking for over the past week. His hands found her face and he cupped it, kissing her again before he pulled away.

"Do you really need me to say it?" she asked.

John nodded, the hints of a smile extending to the corners of his mouth.

"I love you and I'd go mad if you died. Can't live without you?" she added with a sheepish smile that disappeared into another fiery kiss. His doppelganger had almost killed him, but Elizabeth brought him to life.


End file.
